Plastic carrying crate for bottles



Nov. 21, 1967 o. F. BARTOO ETAL $353,703

PLASTIC CARRYING CRATE FOR BOTTLES Filed July 15, 1963 FIG] L g F|G.2)

OTTO FL OK/S EARI' O TEUAl/S TEN 5KU66E/VO47'E LODEW/d/f GER/1K0 GORTER IN V EN TORS Arromsrs United States Patent 3,353,703 PLASTIC CARRYING CRATE FOR BOTTLES Gtto Floris Barton, Rijswijk, South Holland, Teunis Ten Bruggencate, Voorburg, and Lodewijk, Gerard Gorter,

Rijswijk, South Holland, Netherlands, assignors to Vereeniging Voor Zuivelindustrie en Melkhygiene, The

Hague, Netherlands, a corporation of the Netherlands Filed July 15, 1963, Ser. No. 294,919 Claims priority, application Netherlands, Aug. 1, 1962,

281,671 4 Claims. (Cl. 220-21) This invention relates to a carrying crate for bottles. Carrying crates for bottles of wood, metal wire or metal sheet are generally known, cases of synthetic material being also known. Generally, crates-are used for adozen bottles of about 1 litre content, the outer and inner dimensions of the crates having to meet rather strict requirements, if the bottles are to fit properly into them and if the crates are to be easily stacked and to be transportable on belt conveyors, roller conveyors and on chain conveyors. A high standard is also imposed on the resistance against wear and on the rigidity.

For the plastic carrying crate, which is made in a die, there is an additional requirement in that the die must produce a product which is easily released, which results in walls and ribs, each of which must in itself be easily releasable in the direction of the expulsion from the die and have the necessary clearance, because in plastics changes in the. dimensions and deformations caused by changes in. temperature are'apt to occur, which may give rise to trouble, especially for the dividers between the bottles, when the carrying crateis being filled with bottles in a machine. I

Lastly, it is important that no angles should be present in the carrying crate where dirt could accumulate, which cannot be washed away or can only be washed away with considerable difficulty and gives rise to colonies ofbacteria.

The known carrying crates of synthetic material are, therefore, provided with perforated bottoms, and on the said bottoms with dividers having transversal cross-sections in the form of a cross, these dividers being freev the thickened upper rim of the crate to be used as a handle" v This invention more specially relates to the bottom and the dividers between the bottles and to the shaping and interconnection of these elements among themselves and to the sidewalls, which results in a construction of greater rigidity than the known ones and which nevertheless has a much greater degree of perforation, while in addition to this the resistance against wear is increased.

To achieve this, the bottom is according to the invention constructed as a square frame of ribs, said ribs forming .angles of forty-five degrees with the lower edges of the sidewalls and being adapted to support the bottles substantially exclusively under their cylindrical side surfaces, said dividers being connected to the bottom of the case only at the location of the junction points of the ribs, and

being connected to one another only at about half the v height of the cylindrical side surface of the bottles.

In this manner there has been constructed a spatial system of dividers, which has a very lightweight and combines a high degree of openness with a particularly great stability. v

3,353,7h3 Patented Nov. 21, 1967 In this construction the weight of the bottles is supported in-the right place, i.e. not under the centre of the bottom of the bottle, but mainly under the cylindrical side surface of the bottle, while the ribs of the bottom in their junction points immediately transmit this vertical load to the dividers, which, having a much larger moment of inertia in vertical direction, transmit this bending load of the weight of the bottles to the sidewalls of the carryihg case and their quarter-round upstanding standards or cornerposts.

As the ribs in the bottom between the junction points are short-a little more than /2 /2 times the diameter of the bottlethe deformation of these ribs under the load is very slight.

By suspending these junction points on the dividers, it is effected that only a small part of the load is immediately transmitted to the lower edge of the sidewalls, i.e. only one half of the weight of the bottles standing along the wall.

Therefore, the whole of the bottom shows a minimal amount of deformation, in spite of the fact of its being so light and open. Also, the fact that the bottom ribs form angles offorty-five degrees with the side rims ensures a muchincreased tendency of the bottom as a whole to remain in one and the same plane. If the ribs are provided perpendicular to the rims, the stability against torsion of the bottom surface is much less, as has been proven by experiments.

In addition to this, while using the structure of the invention a particular advantage has shown itself. Because the bottles are supported under the cylindrical side surfaces and furthermore the circle inscribed between the ribs has a large diameter, i.e. a little less than /2 '/2 the diameter of the normal bottle, a bottle of smaller capacity, such as A1 a /8 or a litre bottle, will drop through this square aperture when placed in the crate. This. would seem to be a disadvantage, as the bottle is lost. In reality it is an advantage, because, when conventional crates full of empty bottles enter the factory, such a very much undersized bottle, when it comes to its being handled, i.e. removed, rinsed, filled etc. by machines, will not fit into these automatic machines and will, therefore, become the cause of difficulties due for the breakage of these small bottles. When the carrying crate according to this invention is used, such an undersized bottle will not even enter the factory, since it cannot be carried in the crate.

The manual labour entailed by the examination of the incoming carrying crates as to undersized bottles, is considerably simplified when using the carrying crate according to this invention.

The invention will hereinafter be further illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawing of an embodiment of a carrying crate for twelve l'litre bottles.

FIG. 1 showsv a vertical longitudinal cross-section of half of the crate according to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a plane view over half of the length of the same crate.

FIG. 3 shows, a top view of half of the crate, and,

FIG. 4 shows, a bottom view of half of the same crate.

The bottom of the carrying crate shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 consists of a number of ribs 1, having trapezoidal cross-sections and meeting one another at right angles in the junction points 2. These ribs run along the lower rims 3 of the upstanding sidewalls at angles of forty-five degrees. At the outside of these lower rims there are provided flanges 4, which serve as carrying surface when stacking. In the stacked condition of the cases, the flanges 4 are supported on the rounded upper part 5 of the upper rims 6 connected to the corner posts 8, the lower rims 3 falling inside the rectangle with rounded corners formed by the upper rims 6. The corner posts 8 forming the connection with the sidewalls 7, are constructed as quarter cylinders provided with external reinforcing ribs, said quarter cylinders having a considerable buckling resistance and thus being able to receive with ease the vertical load of a number of stacked carrying crates and transmit it to the lowermost crate.

In this connection it is emphatically stated that both the lower rims 3 and the ribs 1 of the crates according to the invention have their lower surfaces lying in one and the same plane. This facilitates transport by belt roller and chain conveyors, while the rims or books for carrying the crates along, which are present on these means of conveyance, obtain a proper gripping surface on the crate which they retain even if the lower rim 3 wears through. The lower surfaces of the said crate always wear off evenly, whereas in the conventional crates, where the lower surface of the bottom does not lie at the same height as the lower surface of an outer rim, a crate with a worn outer rim is apt to cause jamming.

In order to make the carrying crates easy to handle, the sidewalls are provided with large apertures 9, so that the upper rims 6 can serve as handles.

The upper boundary of the sidewall 7 forms a wave pattern with a reinforced rim 10. 'Opposite the lowest points 11 of the wave pattern there are situated near the flange 4 connections 12 with the lower rim 3, whilst to the highest points 13 there are connected the dividers 14. These dividers 14 are. connected to the sidewall 7 across the upper part, but are also provided with a wavy upper rim 15. On thehighest points 16 the dividers 14 meet and are joined into a whole. The wave pattern of the upper rims and is specially advantageous for the automatic centering of the bottles when filling. However, this junction does not continue over the full height but only as far as a point 17, because part of the dividers has been taken away in a corresponding manner as with the sidewalls 7.

It is only immediately under the lowest point 18 of the wavy upper rim 15 that the dividers 14 are connected with the junction point 2 of the ribs 1 and that, therefore, they take over the load of the weight of the bottles applied to the junction. points and in turn transmit this load to the sidewalls 7.

It is clear that, in this manner, a specially favourable distribution of forces is obtained, wherein the ribs 1 are situated under the cylindrical surface of a bottle and have a length of about /2 /2 times the diameter of the bottle. In this manner they are more evenly loaded, and, therefore, bend to a lesser extent than a rib which passes under the centre line of the bottle in a transverse fashion, as is usual in metal carrying crates. In addition to this, the junction point 2 is immediately suspended from the vertical dividers 14 with their considerably larger moment of inertia, whereby the ultimate deformation is further reduced, because the load is applied at distances of one half and one and a half times the bottle diameter from the sidewalls, and not, as in some crates of conventional structure, at distances of once and twice the bottle diameter, i.e. in the points of intersection of the dividers.

Further, the construction of this plastic carrying crate presents fewer difiiculties, because of the absence of junction points inwhich two dividers and a bottom rib meet. There is always a meeting of two dividers according to the line 16-17 or a meeting of one divider 14 with the bottom of the crate in the point 2 of junction of two ribs 1, if the framework consisting of the ribs 1 may be called a bottom in the sense of a flat plate.

Notwithstanding its much more open construction, this carrying crate is much more rigid than a conventional plastic carrying crate and less subject to stresses which may cause warping or deformation. Because of this high degree of openness and the avoidance of a meeting of three surfaces which are at right angles with one another in one point of junction, cleaning can also be effected in a much quicker and a more adequate way. This is another reason why an aperture 19 is also provided in the round angle inside the upstanding corner post 8, so that the rib 1 there remains separated from the wall.

Because the ribs 1 are narrow and support the cylindrical surface of the bottle only, a large inscribed circle under the upstanding dividers 14 remains free, and an undersized bottle, such as a quarter of a litre or a still smaller bottle, will not be retained in the crate. This will of course have the result that, when the crate is lifted, this. undersized bottle will drop through the bottom and will usually be broken, but in this way there is at the same time obtained a larger quota of bottles of the right size.

This is very important if the crates are delivered to an automatic filling machine, because the machines are adjusted to one size of bottles, andother dimensions of the bottles will give rise to difficulties, rupture and jamming of the machines and other troubles.

It is a matter of course that the above-described crate for a dozen litre bottles is only an example, but that a crate, which can contain more or fewer bottles having a different content can be made according to this invention.

We claim:

1. A one-piece molded plastic bottle transport crate, comprising a rigid upper frame, a rigid bottom frame disposed below and spaced apart from said rigid upper frame, side walls forming corner portions rounded on the outside and rigidly connecting and spacing said frames, integral partition means disposed inside of said crate and consisting of longitudinal and transverse walls at a predetermined distance from each other, said partition means being adapted to secure the bottles in their position, said bottom frame including a grid of bars forming the crate bottom, said bars intersecting each other substantially perpendicularly and supporting said partition means, said longitudinal. and transverse walls of said partition means being cut-away near the points of intersection forming downwardly directed cut-outs, at least some of said longitudinal and transverse walls being raised near the points of intersections and said longitudinal and transverse walls extending downwardly to and attached integrally to said bottom grid, and said longitudinal and transverse wall parts being connected with each other only at the area in which they are raised.

2. The transport crate, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said corner portions of said side walls comprise corner supports and intermediate portions of said side walls are disposed in the lower part of said crate between each pair of adjacent corner supports.

3. The transport crate, as set forth in claim 2, wherein said corner supports have at least one reinforcing rib projecting outwardly therefrom.

4. Carrying crate for bottles comprising, upstanding sidewalls a system of dividers for separate bottles in the form of intersecting dividers parallel to the upstanding sidewalls approximately at half the height of the crate and being fixed to said sidewalls, a bottom consisting of an open, square grate the ribs of which form angles of 45 with the lower rims of the sidewalls, the intersecting points of said ribs being suspended from the dividers, all the said intersecting points of the ribs being positioned under the dividers, each with intersecting points being positioned midway between the intersection of the dividers, and between an intersection of two dividers and a point of junction of a divider and an upstanding sidewall.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,414,171 1/1947 Scharlf. 2,526,716 10/ 1950 Wales 220-21 3,107,026 10/1963 De Chelbor 22021 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner. 

1. A ONE-PIECE MOLDED PLASTIC BOTTLE TRANSPORT CRATE, COMPRISING A RIGID UPPER FRAME, A RIGID BOTTOM FRAME DISPOSED BELOW AND SPACED APART FROM SAID RIGID UPPER FRAME, SIDE WALLS FORMING CORNER PORTIONS ROUNDED ON THE OUTSIDE AND RIGIDLY CONNECTING AND SPACING SAID FRAME, INTEGRAL PARTITION MEANS DISPOSED INSIDE OF SAID CRATE AND CONSISTING OF LONGITUDINAL AND TRANSVERSE WALLS AT A PREDETERMINED DISTANCE FROM EACH OTHER, SAID PARTITION MEANS BEING ADAPTED TO SECURE THE BOTTLES IN THEIR POSITION, SAID BOTTOM FRAME INCLUDING A GRID OF BARS FORMING THE CRATE BOTTOM, SAID BARS INTERSECTING EACH OTHER SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULARLY AND SUPPORTING SAID PARTITION MEANS, SAID LONGITUDINAL AND TRANSVERSE WALLS OF SAID PARTITION MEANS BEING CUT-AWAY NEAR THE POINTS OF INTERSECTION FORMING DOWNWARDLY DIRECTED CUT-OUTS, AT LEAST SOME OF SAID LONGITUDINAL AND TRANSVERSE WALLS BEING RAISED NEAR THE POINTS OF INTERSECTIONS AND SAID LONGITUDINAL AND TRANSVERSE WALLS EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY TO SAID ATTACHED INTEGRALLY TO SAID BOTTOM GRID, AND SAID LONGITUDINAL AND TRANSVERSE WALL PARTS BEING CONNECTED WITH EACH OTHER ONLY AT THE AREA IN WHICH THEY ARE RAISED. 